Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

The Letter

An offer from Gordon Pembridge

2

JAN/14

Gordon Pembridge Consulting Services

You hear a familiar clang, followed by a single chime of the bell which signals the arrival of a tube. Great, another rejection letter.
But the extra heft to this message gives you cause for hope. You crack open the tube and turn its contents out onto the table.
You unfurl the cover sheet to see the letterhead of a “Gordon Pembridge Consulting Services”. You don’t remember approaching them.
You read the letter.

To whom it doth certainly concern,
Gordon Pembridge Consulting Services (GP) is a company that takes care of things. All kinds of things. We have completed many prestigious contracts for wealthy private clients, corporations, and the Crown. We have operations domestic, and international.
GP requires people with certain skills. Your skills.
You see, we here at GP know you. We have been watching. We believe that your skills will be invaluable to us and the letter you now hold in your hand constitutes an offer of employment.
To accept this offer, please sign the enclosed contract of employment, and return it in the reply paid tube supplied. We hope you will be satisfied with the terms enclosed herein.

Sincerely,
Admiral Willard Andrew Havisham, Esq.

You leaf through the contract to the remuneration, thirty-two hundred shillings a month. A generous wage for just about anyone. And would be considered a reasonable stipend for those more comfortable types. The job description contains lots of clauses that absolve GP of any liability for bodily, mental, or magickal harm….. and many other minor details for sure.

It strikes you that you have never even heard of Gordon Pembridge. And yes, you are certain now that you didn’t approach them.

The pack says if you accept, you are to attend a GP function at St. James Park, 25th January 1889, 7pm. That’s one month away. Enough time to prepare yourself for such a formal engagement……